Milena Casado has created a buzz lately through her work with Terri Lyne Carrington, Aaron Parks, Kris Davis and other musicians. Now signed with Candid Records, the trumpeter, flugelhorn player and composer is taking listeners on an eclectic, disparate and intrinsically interesting journey with Reflection of Another Self.
The opening track “This Is My Hair” is an eavesdrop on a conversation between bassist Esperanza Spalding and Casado about straightening their hair to comply with “expected” looks. However intriguing this track is, it cannot prepare the listener for what is to come on this extraordinary release. Reflection of Another Self is a deep dive into one woman’s traumas and her journey in processing them and understanding forgiveness.
Topics covered include facing prejudice, self-discovery and ambition. Of course, these issues affect many people. But Milena Casado weaves them into solid conceptual visions that resonate deeply with the listener. The album is layered, dreamlike and immersive.
Conveying these concepts profoundly required exceptional musicians, so Casado co-produced Reflection of Another Self with drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, who is also a mentor and friend, and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Guerin. The core band includes pianist Lex Korten, bass player Kanoa Mendenhall, drummer Jongkuk Kim and Morgan Guerin on Electronic Wind Instrument. Special guests include harpist Brandee Younger, flautist Nicole Mitchell, pianist Kris Davis, sound artist and turntablist Val Jeanty and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, who delivers a wonderful performance on “Self Love.”
The album is many things: uplifting, madcap, fun, serious and angry. Add to this a plethora of emotions portrayed in sound, and you begin to understand the diverse nature of the music.
There are street-savvy tracks like “O.C.T. (Oda to the Crazy Times),” where Casado slithers deft melodic lines across the top of and in the spaces between meaningful rap and punchy rhythmic activity in the background. The track surveys our maddening, infuriating sociopolitical age — and reflects on how the exterior world impacts the interior.
“Yet I can See” is a more conventional number with straight rhythms and melodic lines, “Introspection” is thoughtful, short and delivered almost entirely in whimsical phrasing and line. “Lidia y Los Libros” is beautiful as it evolves into a melodic, harmonic study and is a joy to hear. Alongside samples of voices of Casado’s mother and grandmother, there are vibrant contributions from Brandee Younger and Nicole Mitchell. Casado’s arrangement of Geri Allen’s “Unconditional Love” is soulful and emotive.
“Introspection II – Preguntas (Questions)” is another thoughtful interlude before “Circles” once again combines wise words with Kris Davis working wonders with the melody lines, a sampled koan from Wayne Shorter, and is a track that melds post-bop and futuristic grooves in ways that work.
“Let’s Paint the World” features piano and percussion and is an intricately layered, coloured piece with Casado adding decorative phrasing, while ‘Introspection 111’ is a short, sweet free-styled dialogue between Carrington and Casado.
The album features many inspired moments, minutes even, but it also does something else. It is clear that Casado is influenced by jazz masters, including Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and John Coltrane. Her rhythmic patterns, melodic phrasing and outstandingly outlandish solo phrases speak volumes of the deep effect of the past. Yet there is also something new, which is rare. The essence of searching for truth and answers amidst established beliefs. The music is at once skewed toward the traditional and yet contains enough individualism and ingenuity that it’s worth listening to many times in order to understand all the elements held within.
Reflection of Another Self unfolds like a novel. “It begins with music that openly examines fears, melancholy, and insecurities,” Milena Casado said. “Then comes the bridge between understanding those and starting to accept and overcome them. Acceptance means finding compassion for the people who caused your traumas. That leads to tracks expressing resilience, courage and ultimately self-love, which I feel is one of the most important things – to love yourself to be able to love others too. We need to accept who we are and believe in ourselves.”
Casado’s early life influenced her music. She was born in Spain and moved among small villages with her mother, a teacher. “I didn’t really have any references for someone who looked like me,” she said. People could be surprisingly unkind. They made remarks, laughing at her hair, and left behind the quiet weight of lasting trauma.
Music became her escape. “Finding the trumpet, finding music — it was somewhere where I felt accepted,” she said. “Somehow, music felt like home.” She discovered paragons in trumpeters Miles Davis, Clark Terry and Kenny Dorham, as well as Wayne Shorter and Thelonious Monk. Her talent was apparent and immense. She moved to Barcelona to study at the Liceu Conservatory on a full scholarship and found mentors in R.J. Miller and D.J. Foster.
“They saw the potential and gave me weekly playing opportunities,” Casado said, “and they told me, ‘You need to go to the States.'” Boston’s Berklee College of Music came to Barcelona to do auditions and Casado earned a full scholarship. One day during an ensemble class at Berklee, Casado played a solo just as Carrington and a visiting friend, Jack DeJohnette, strolled down the nearby hallway. Taken aback, they had to find out who was playing – and the rest is history. She made her way to New York and settled in Brooklyn, making her name in jazz’s most demanding environment.
She sees Reflection of Another Self as the starting point of a long exploration. It is a testament to the strength of a musical community and to Casado’s willingness to honor those figures who’ve impacted her art and life. “I really wanted to have people whom I admire and who inspire me,” says Casado.
There are hints of what might be to come, and what hope will come, in Casado’s playing. Her willingness to let go, without fear or expectations – to truly improvise sit well currently with honoring the musicians of the past, but her free playing is her best place and it is this that conjures up hopeful visions for the future of this immensely talented player who already has made positive waves in the jazz community.
Every so often, someone comes along like a breath of fresh air. These are musicians who can crush a traditional piece, yet also respond intuitively to fellow improvisers, creating something truly special. Casado is one of those. She has waited, imbibed, learned and now is ready to be truly heard. The jazz community is ready for someone like Milena Casado.
- Milena Casado – ‘Reflection of Another Self’ (2025) - May 4, 2025
- Luis Ianes and Noel Akchote – ‘Seuil’ (2025) - April 12, 2025
- David Dower Trio – ‘Sonder’ (2025) - March 23, 2025
